Bouncing Balls
by cmdrtekk
Summary: G1. A Prank is making the rounds at the Ark. Includes a little of Ratchet, Lambo Twins, Prowl, Jazz, Smokescreen, and Red Alert. Oh and we can't forget the Decepticons. Swindle, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Frenzy, Rumble, Ravage and the Constructicons.
1. The Prank Begins

**Disclaimer**: _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the established characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak._

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of his room and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. As Ratchet stood and stared, he wondered abstractly, and not for the first time, the merits of being bonded to the twins.

To Ratchet, it seemed obvious that someone had attempted to prank Sideswipe and probably Sunstreaker as well -most certainly in retaliation for some previous prank by the twins- and once again, Ratchet got hit first. This made the third time in three weeks. "_And the rest of the bots around here wonder why I throw things," _he thought. Of course as he had been throwing tools at mechs heads for far far longer than he had been bonded to the twins, the excuse was less than valid.

So he stood at the doorway, as what must have been thousands, "_probably a few hundred thousand actually_," bouncing rubber balls poured out of the door and raced down the hall in both directions from where he stood. Just how the unnamed prankster had managed this task of filling up what surely must have been every inch of open space in his and the twins quarters was beyond Ratchet at the moment. As was how someone had even managed to sneak so many of them into the ark, without Red Alert being aware. The amassing of, and sneaking into the Ark of so many balls would certainly have taken some time.

This brought about one final thought, _"The prank crowd at the Ark certainly had the ability to be patient when it suited them."_

* * *

A Note: This little Transformer short inspired by ryagelle having already matched the twins and Ratchet up and by my cleaning up my kid's playroom. I have seen other Ratchet & Twin fics, but ryagelle's, to me, seems very much the inspiration for the most recent ones and the first to go the distance. When I think on it, I find it interesting that it has taken so long for those three to be matched up as it seems like an eventual and very natural pairing in the fan fic world.


	2. The Prank Is Shared

Title: Bouncing Balls 2  
Rating: T  
Characters/Pairings: Prowl & Jazz  
Warnings: Mech x Mech interfacing mentioned. If you don't like that stuff, skip this chapter.  
Universe: G1

**Summary**: A Transformers short that grew. The prank is making the rounds.  
**Disclaimer**: _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of his office and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. As Prowl stood and stared, he caught his battle computer starting to calculate the number of balls and determinedly ordered it to stop. He firmly decided he really didn't need to know how many hundred thousands of the things there were. And there surely were that many. Prowl instead opened a comm. line to his mate. "Jazz, Prowl, would you please report to my office."

"Prowl, Jazz, on my way." So Prowl stood at the doorway, as the bouncing rubber balls continued to steadily vacate his office, pouring out the door from what surely was every available inch of space, from ceiling to floor in his office and racing down the hall in both directions from where he stood. He reluctantly gave the Lamborghini Twins credit for patience. After all, it had been close to four earth months since this prank had been targeted at them.

Jazz was two steps from the intersection that would take him to the hall for the command element's offices when he wobbled slightly as he stepped on uneven ground. A surprised glance downward followed by a quick grimace of the mouth before he blanked his expression as he registered what he had stepped on. _Uh oh,_ he now knew what Prowl was about.

Prowl smirked to himself as his mate cautiously stepped his way down the hall. "Jazz, did you not promise me 109 days ago, wonderful interfacing that night though it was, that if I allowed the storage of certain boxes by you, in our quarters, as a benevolent gesture for an unnamed third party, that upon the granting of a 24 hour furlough to Inferno and Red Alert, I would never see nor be bothered by said boxes or their contents again?"

Jazz wilted, he remembered that night pretty well, he had completely dodged answering Prowl's initial irritation and question about the boxes by initiating a heavy bout of interfacing, then snuck the agreement out of his highly sated mate who had been more than half way into recharge when Jazz had brought it back up. The furlough had been granted the next morning, Inferno had happily drug Red off by that afternoon and the boxes were gone by that evening, having been retrieved by their original owners. Now, he could put on the outward perfect angel act, or he could craftily sidestep the truth in a verbal dance without lying, but the bond he had with Prowl would, to use a human phrase "rat him out in the end." Besides, the question had been rhetorical, they both knew it.

Then, just to see what and where it would get him, Jazz chose to answer anyway. "I'm not so sure these are those contents Prowl, after all, there's far more here than the boxes I stored."

"I have no doubt that your benevolent third party was storing their supplies in more places than just our quarters. I'm not even sure why you chose to store any prank material in our quarters. It's not your style."

"Cause I needed you to grant the furlough Love, and it was the most enjoyable route to go to get you to agree."

"That as it may be, the contents have now been returned to you. So you are to clean these up, by yourself, and by hand."

"What! Prowl you can't be serious. By hand? There must be thousands. And their smaller to us than marbles are to humans."

"Hundreds of thousands actually. And yes I am serious. By Ratchet's decree, Sideswipe and Suntreaker had to pick these up by hand. Seeing as how that method worked for our CMO with his bondmate's, I think it will work for me and you. Do not involve me in your pranks again, no matter how enjoyable your method of persuasion." Internally, Prowl realized he was finding great humor in this. It was so very very rare that he even knew about Jazz's pranks, regardless of the bond, till after the fact; and rarer yet that Jazz get caught in any sort of a compromising position regarding said pranks.

"Well, seeing as we know the culprits this time around, why can't they pick them up again?"

"Because due to that benevolent gesture agreement you interfaced me into, I did not pursue the culprits last time, and as another benevolent gesture, I've decided I 'm not going to pursue the culprits this time. Especially as I have someone, Officer though you may be, right here who can do the cleaning. Oh, and further, once you get these cleaned up, I want them returned to the original owner and you, as an Officer are to make sure they get removed from the Ark. I am done with benevolent gestures." With that, Prowl headed towards the command deck.

Jazz watched with a smile as Prowl made his cautious way down the hall. He could feel Prowl's humor through the bond. Oh, he was far from thrilled with having to clean these tiny things up, but Prowl hadn't said when Jazz had to return the balls. And as the best Prankster in the Ark when he wanted to be, Jazz was not limited, as the previous two sets of culprits had been, to waiting on Red Alert's being out of the Ark to rig the security cameras and set up this somewhat time consuming prank. No, he certainly had the skill and more importantly, the patience to wait for the right moment to strike, not just the convenient one.

* * *

A/N, What can I say, it grew. Enough people messaged me asking for who and how the prank was done. I know the who and the how, now I just need to get them to confess, or get pranked or something.


	3. The Prank Gets Returned

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 3  
**Rating:** G  
**Characters/Pairings:** Original culprits revealed  
**Warnings: **None

**Universe:** G1

**Disclaimer**: _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._  
**Summary:** The Prank gets returned

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of his room and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. Now Cosmos sat on the floor in the hall outside the door to his quarters, where he had in surprise, frantically stumbled backwards and tripped on what he now recognized to be some _hundreds of thousand,_ bouncing rubber balls. The things were pouring out the door, bouncing off his half buried frame, before spreading out down the hall in both directions.

As the tiny brightly colored rubber balls continued onward in their bid for freedom and flooded their bouncing and rolling way down the hall Cosmos wondered, "_How in the pit did the twins learn it was us? And why today when all I want is some recharge? Why couldn't they do it while I was still on shift floating around the planet? All I want is a couple joors of recharge to go alone with the energon I just had. Everyone else gets shifts correlating to the local time keeping method of hours in a day and I get ones still measured in Orns."_ He broke off his internal ramble in surprise when he heard both his roommates inside the room.

"Oh hey Cosmos my man, I have to say we are very glad you came home today. Took you long enough though. We were really beginning to worry that Prowl had decided to keep you up top for another couple of cycles."

This surprise was enough to get Cosmos to collect his wits enough to scramble to his feet and cautiously step through the door way. Inside, he found his roommates starring at him from berth and floor respectively. As he stood and stared, "What?" was all he could think to say with his recharge deprived CPU.

"My Commanding Officer" was Bumblebee's dry reply.

"Jazz?"

"He is my immediate commanding officer" was the sarcastic reply.

"I thought we pranked the twins?"

And here Beachcomber chuckled, "Four and a half months ago Cosmos. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pranked Prowl with these last week."

"OK, so how do you know it was Jazz? He is an officer after all. I can't see Prowl letting him do this."

Bumblebee and Beachcomber stared at Cosmos in disbelief. "Cosmos, you really do need some recharge. This is Jazz were talking about. Being an officer has never stopped him before."

"And we've had a very long uncomfortable day to think about it" continued Bumblebee. "First, he's bonded to Prowl, and while it's not common knowledge, I happen to know Prowl made Jazz pick these things up by himself, so he had ready access to them. Second, if you will remember, he's how I got the furlough for Red Alert and Inferno so he knows we started this. Third, he is prank craftiness personified when he wants to be. And while it is much tighter for him than us, he can fit in the Arks vent system, where the Twins most certainly cannot. Their Toughline frames are just two big. And finally, last but certainly not least, both our comm. systems were disrupted, something Jazz could have done overcharged, standing on one leg with one arm tied behind his back. And I don't think Sideswipe or Sunstreaker could have done the comm. units without us coming out of recharge. "

" Especially as they, like most every other bot here, were beyond the 'over charged' state and into the 'truly completely cratered' state last night."

"Guess you have this thought out."

"We have been stuck here, unable to call for help and unable to move, let alone twitch, fighting with the effects of a major high grade hangover, for the past 7 hours waiting for someone to open the door. We've had plenty of time to think."

"You've been stuck in here all day?"

"Neither of us had shifts today."

"It was like being a statue in a box of the humans packing peanuts." added Beachcomber

"Except a statue would not have had a hangover from the 'we thoroughly beat the cons and had no injuries' party last night."

"Wow, I think he certainly one upped our prank."

"Why thank you Cosmos, I do enjoy knowing that my work is appreciated." said Jazz, from where he stood in the hallway, happy grin in place.

Three sets of optics turned in surprise. "Oh I respect the creativeness Sir, not sure I'd go so far as to say I appreciated it. I just came off an Orn long shift. All I want is to recharge. And this I can see is going to delay that."

"Ah Cosmos, don't do the crime if ya can't do the time." Jazz smiled. And with that piece of advice, I'm here to tell you three that you need to pick all of these balls up by hand and remove them from the Ark."

"By hand sir?"

"Yep!" and Jazz smiled wider. Ya see, the twins had to pick these up by hand. I had to pick them up by hand. Now you three have to pick them up by hand. And I suggest you get it done before Optimus, Prowl, Ironhide and Red Alert return from their meeting in Portland. Wouldn't want to freak Red Alert out or anything." Jazz paused, then added slyly, "or the twins get back from patrol. Their due back about six by the way."

A round of answering moans was the response. That's in 3 hours.

"You best get rolling then" he said with a grin. The crates we've all been using are in cargo bay 3."

"Just what are we suppose to do with them once we remove them?"

"Ya know, my orders end once I see you three remove them from the Ark. Prowl never said anything beyond that. And I'm the only one besides yourselves that knows you started it. All of us have managed to keep this off the security cameras each time." Jazz smiled, this time deviously.

And Cosmos picked up on it. "So we could, oh, move them anywhere we choose as long as they get removed from the Ark first?"

"Call me when you have them removed from the Ark" Jazz smirked as he left.

Cosmos looked at Bumblebee. "Bee, you want to take care of the cameras again?"


	4. The Prank Gets Relaunched

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 4  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Characters/Pairings:** Smokescreen, Prowl, Red Alert  
**Warnings:** None  
**Universe:** G1

**Disclaimers: **_I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

**Summary:** The Prank gets re-launched

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of the Tactical Office and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. As Smokescreen stood and stared, he hoped Red Alert for once would be late for the planning session with Trailbreaker, Prowl and himself. The Security Director, normally calm and collected during battle if he stayed in the Ark to coordinate, had been on edge since the battle two days ago. That was when he had caught Ravage and Laserbeak attempting to use the battle as a diversion for their own romp through the Ark. Then Red Alert had been ordered to go with Prime & Prowl to a meeting in Portland most of yesterday. Red just had not had enough opportunity yet to calm down and in Smokescreen's CPU, this prank was sure to be the final act to set him off. And give the rest of the Ark's residents a few minutes of excitement to boot.

So as Smokescreen watched the bouncing rubber balls continue to steadily pour out of the Tactical teams office, racing down the hall in both directions from where he stood he began to open a private line to his fellow Datsun, Tactician and Second in Command, Prowl. The very loud scream of "Intruder! Decepticon's! Sabotage!" Followed by his internal alert alarm going off, along with the coordinates of this section of hallway had Smokescreen cycling his air vents and terminating the comm. line. Prowl would be here soon enough anyway. So he turned towards the yell to see Red Alert moving quickly yet cautiously towards him gun in hand.

"Easy Red, it's just a prank. There harmless." Smokescreen offered mildly as he eyed the keyed up over clocked Security Director in front of him and beyond him Prowl making his own cautious way towards them. "You might want to put the gun away, before we have an accident, and maybe cut the alarm."

"Red Alert" and the Security Director jumped and spun at Prowls voice, "subspace that weapon. Now. And turn off the alarm."

Smokescreen watched Prowl flick his door wings in puzzlement as he studied Red Alert, and realized with mild apprehension that the 2IC was seeing in Red Alert the same thing he was. It was as though Red wasn't registering anything he was seeing or hearing. Or more accurately, due to his overly keyed up systems at the moment, he was registering what he was seeing and hearing, but instead of calming down, his CPU was having trouble keeping up with the sensory and situational information he was receiving, thus causing him sensory hallucinations that were offering him visions of threats that really were not present. It had been quite awhile since this had happened. Normally Inferno insured Red Alert got enough down time, whether the SD wanted it or not.

Smokescreen offered a nod of his head and flick of his door wings as Prowl overrode the alert alarm and ran options. Prowl turned to look behind him down the hall where Smokescreen indicated. Coming at a full out run in response to the alarm, guns drawn, were Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Stop! Look out, false alarm. Watch the floor! Stop!"

Smokescreen winced as to late the warning and two high the speed, the twins hit the rubber ball strewn floor and went cussing, sliding and crashing into walls, balls and floor sending a wave of the tiny colored things scattering as the twins came to a stop in a twisted red and yellow pile of Toughline Model Lamborghinis.

Another crash behind him followed by more cussing and more balls scattering turned out to be Ironhide, gun also in hand, as he to hit the ball covered floor at a full out run while coming from a side hall.

Neither Prowl nor Smokescreen could tell what Red Alert thought he heard and saw between the loud noises of the crashes and the cussing, for he was deadly silent as he suddenly spun around from Ironhide's direction to face the twins. As he did so he dropped and ducked around Prowl, brought his gun to bear and opened fire.

As the firearm discharge alarm sounded, Prowl actually cursed, "Slag," and Smokescreen, had he had the time, would have been extremely surprised that he had been the witness, and further, would have begun calculating the bet on time span since someone had last heard Prowl curse. That was of course if he hadn't been trying to wrestle Red Alert to the ground and relieve him of his weapon.

The scene ended when Prowl in a second uncharacteristic fit of pique, slammed his fist into Red Alerts helm hard enough to off line the SD. Smokescreen stared, that was a move he would have expected of Ironhide. Then he climbed off the off lined red and white Lamborghini and offered a hand to Prowl who excepted as he climbed to his feet. They both took in the scene.

The twins were climbing to their feet, Sideswipe scowling and Sunstreaker complaining of the scratches. Ironhide meanwhile had moved up on them. Judging by the angry glare on his face it was probably a good thing Prowl had already off lined the Lamborghini. A good half of the Arks' in residence population, most with weapons drawn were gathered now, drawn by the double alarms, and now, the curiosity in the show unfolding before them kept them in place.

Optimus Prime and Jazz moved through the crowd towards the epicenter.

"Prowl, Smokescreen," Prime nodded as he came to stand next to them. "I'm pretty sure I've already put the scene together, but would one of you like to go ahead and enlighten me?"

A few flicks of the door wings at each other and Smokescreen spoke up. After all, it had started with him. "Well, the short and sweet story is I came to the Tact. Office, for a planning session with Prowl, Trailbreaker, and Red here. Opened the door, out came the balls. Red's been so worked up the past two days, that I'm guessing this just pushed his CPU over the edge. He lost it. Warriors responding to the alert, just added to whatever scenario was playing out in Red's head, he got off a couple shots, Prowl and I tackled him and Prowl knocked him out."

Prime and Jazz both looked at Prowl in surprise. And Prowl returned their looks with a steady bland look of his own. :Wow Love, you getting ready to lose it to?: asked Jazz to Prowl over the Bond.

:Don't start, I'm not through with you yet.:

Prime looked around, unaware of the private conversation. "Very well. Inferno, help Ironhide get Red Alert to Ratchet. The rest of you, shows over, dismissed!"

"Except for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker" added Prowl.

As the crowd broke up, and the Twins waited at a distance, Optimus looked at Jazz. "Didn't Prowl give you orders to see these things removed from the Ark?"

"He did, and I did. Even submitted a report, complete with security camera footage, that I had completed the task."

"Hmm." And Smokescreen was sure Prime was smiling behind the battle mask. "Alright. Prowl, call Hoist and Grapple in maintenance, have then fix the blaster damage to the walls. They can clean up the balls as well, unless you have other candidates in mind." Prime glanced at the Twins. "Then see that these nuisances do leave for good this time. I think this prank has been played out enough." With that, Prime turned and left.

Prowl looked at Smokescreen, then Jazz, then over at the twins, wondering if he really wanted to make the suggestion he was thinking of. Or even reveal he knew about it. It would certainly dent his reputation as a 'pipe up the aft, strictly by the rules stiff.'

Jazz picked up Prowls indecision through their bond. :Ah, go ahead, the surprise might do them good.: he sent.

The twins were eyeing the trio warily from where they stood when Prowl looked over at them. "Come here."

Smokescreen got another surprise today once the twins stood with the group. "Smokescreen, Sideswipe, I believe you two both have a contact, with whom, shall we say, your affiliation with, brings to question your common sense. However, I do believe he might be helpful in aiding with the removal of this prank equipment so it does not return. And if I really am mistaken, and you don't have such a contact, you might want to ask Mirage to help you out with his contact. Jazz with me please." And Prowl moved off down the hall, Jazz in tow.

"Oh man, busted Bro. Leave me out of this." And that said, Sunstreaker beat a hasty retreat, glad to not have to pick up the pit slagging little balls again. As the only two Mechs left in the hall, Smokescreen looked at Sideswipe. "Did you just hear Prowl say what I just heard Prowl say? I mean 'Mr. by the rule book, pipe up his aft Prowl?' Did he really suggest we have permission to contact Swindle?"

Sideswipes optics glowed with glee, "Smokey, a good prank really does need to be shared."


	5. The Prank Gets A New Home

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 5  
**Rating:** G  
**Characters/Pairings:** Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker  
**Warnings:** None  
**Universe:** G1

**Summary:** The prank gets a new home  
**Disclaimer:** _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of his room and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. Starscream stood and stared in puzzlement. Then he bent down and scooped up a handful of the tiny things. Closer examination showed them to be nothing more than they appeared. They were merely tiny miniscule balls of rubber in obnoxiously cheerful colors. As the flood of exiting balls slowed and came to a stop, Starscream peered into his quarters. The balls that remained, and there were plenty, lay on every horizontal surface. Looking at the mass of balls now scattered along the floor of the hall in both directions from his door, Starscream realized that the balls must have been packed into almost every spot of open space in his quarters, just waiting for him to open the door. Having evaluated the situation, Starscream opened a comm. line to his trine mates. This little mess had Skywarp's name all over it. And where one found Skywarp, one could find Thundercracker.

Two hours after Starscream had freed the bouncing balls from their captivity in his quarters, found Skywarp and Thundercracker on their hands and knees still scooping the annoyingly tiny balls into supply crates. There was no doubt in Skywarp's CPU who had done this to them. _Ok, technically, it'd been done to Starscream. But he was they're trine mate. And they were the ones cleaning it up anyway._ As Skywarp thought on it, more and more of how this prank had been pulled off formed in his processor.

"Hey TC, I was thinking, Starscream never said what we're supposed to do with these once we get them picked up. We're just supposed to pick them up." Thundercracker looked over at his mate with a glare.

"No, I'm not picking these up a second time. Having to pick up after this prank of yours once, is enough. So keep scooping."

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's not my prank. I'm being framed. And we won't have to pick them up if we do it right."

"No. Everyone is going to know that we had possession of these things. I am not picking 'em up again"

"Come on TC, this is one of those pranks that really needs to be passed on. And if you think I'm going to let those two pip squeaks get away with this, you're out of your processor."

"No."

Ignoring his partners negative responses, Skywarp continued on, knowing Thundercracker would ultimately come around. "I figure these were dropped in through the vent system. I mean it's really the only way they could have filled the entire room up with these things. Drop them in from the top. We'll need some supplies."

"No."

"We can use the same method."

Thundercracker paused in his scooping and glanced up at the security camera, then at Skywarp. "Warp, I'm not going up against Soundwave. And you need your processor checked if you are actually considering it."

"First, were not going up against Soundwave. Were going up against Rumble and Frenzy. And second, I've pranked Ol' Soundstiff before and survived to tell the tale… Well I survived anyway."

"Warp, Rumble and Frenzy share quarters with Soundwave. You go after them like this, and you're going to get Soundwave. Besides, the last prank war you had with them earned us obnoxiously bright quarters, a tar and feather treatment and 20 hour patrol shifts for two weeks strait. Not to mention being shadowed by the buzzards or ravage everywhere we went on base for a month."

"True, but R and F had to clean the main cargo bay, and brig with human toothbrushes." We got off easy.

"No Warp, leave me out of it."

"It's going to be fine. Trust me."

Thundercracker cycled air through his intakes in a sigh. Unsurprisingly, Skywarp was not going to let this go.

"How do you plan to pull this off? There is no way we can fit in the venting system. Even if we removed our wings, which I am not about to do."

Skywarp smiled to himself, Thundercracker had just committed himself to the plan whether he knew it or not.

"Trust me."


	6. The Prank Begins Travel Again

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 6  
**Rating:** G  
**Characters/Pairings:** Soundwave, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy  
**Warnings:** None  
**Universe:** G1

**Summary:** The prank begins travel again  
**Disclaimer:** _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of his quarters and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. Soundwave stood and stared. Ravage, having been standing right in front of the door when it opened was now standing as stoically as a statue as the flood raced over his smaller body. That however did not mean he wasn't very upset at his brothers.

As the flood came to a stop, Soundwave looked around. Nothing reflected outwardly of what he was feeling, but Ravage knew. :They're at it again Boss:

:Expected:

:But we didn't even make 2 months this time: And it was true, Ravage realized. Between Soundwave keeping a tight rein on Rumble and Frenzy, and Himself, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw keeping optics on the troublesome seekers, the Nemesis had enjoyed a six week stretch of peace. Well as much peace as was ever seen onboard the Nemesis anyway. But that was still a good two weeks short of 2 months. Ravage realized he could happily function with the main pranksters of the unit on punishment detail or under strict surveillance, and wished it could be permanent.

:Also expected: Soundwave's thought interrupted Ravages musings.

:Well this time, in addition to the main cargo bay and brig, I hope they have to clean all the cargo bays, plus Officer and Crew Quarter halls with those human toothbrushes. Then they'll be too busy to continue this. And I think all of them need to do the cleaning. Not just Rumble and Frenzy. It's obvious that patrol duty to the point of stasis lock did nothing to curb Skywarp: And the hopeful tone was clearly present in Ravage's mental voice.

:Nothing curbs Skywarp or your Brothers.:

:Well could you offer Megatron the suggestion?: and Ravages tone was hopeful.

:Not my decision.:

Ravage watched as Soundwave tapped the button on his shoulder. "Rumble, Frenzy eject."

And with that the twin casseticons leaped from Soundwave's chest compartment, transforming as they came to land in the center of the hallway. It wasn't anything close to graceful though. For as Rumble and Frenzy's feet touched the rubber ball strewn floor they started a balancing dance that was ultimately doomed to fail. Ravage knew it would it was just a matter of seconds. Sure enough amongst the cussing and flailing they landed hard on their afts.

"What the Slag." Was Frenzy's final comment as he and Rumble sat on the floor glareing up at Soundwave.

Ravage growled at the pair. :take a look you to. Your stupid little prank has been returned. Our quarters are unusable.:

Rumble glanced at Ravage. "What the slag are you talking about Ravage. We've never seen these things before."

:Don't bother, I don't want to hear it. You can give the story to Soundwave:

"Rumble Frenzy Assignment: clean up mess."

"It's not ours. We've never seen these things before."

"Your Pranks: your mess."

"It's not our prank and it's not our mess. We've been good."

"Assignment: clean up. Punishment to Follow. Ravage. Observe.

Soundwave turned and headed off down the hall

Ravage watched Soundwave leave, then turned back with a growl to Rumble and Frenzy.

"Come on Ravage, you know we didn't start this. Soundwave has had us under lock and key for the past 6 weeks. When have we had time to prank anyone?"

:Do you really expect me to believe that someone decided to toss Soundwave a prank? The only reason Skywarp pranks us is because Soundwave is to tolerant of you two and your pranks, even when we all pay the price. And you two are as full of pranks as that stupid seeker.:"

"Well, since we all agree on who left these things for us, why can't he clean them up? asked Rumble.

:Because you are just as responsible for this as he is. Now start cleaning, before Megatron comes by.

Frenzy made an angry swipe at the balls on the floor next to him, sending them at Ravage. _That seeker is not going to get away with this._


	7. The Prank Gets Returned, Again

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 7  
**Rating:** PG  
**Characters/Pairings:** Skywarp, Thundercracker  
**Universe:** G1

**Warnings:** Cussing Mechs  
**Disclaimer:** _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

**Summary:** And the prank gets returned, again

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of their room and flooding their bouncing and rolling way down the hall. The two cratered seekers stood leaning together, each keeping the other mostly upright as the flood of cheerfully colored rubber balls continued to flow out the door and down the hall in their bid for freedom.

"Ugh. Please, this isn't happening."

"It's happening."

"Can't be, we got rid of 'em weeks ago."

"You gave them to Soundwave. Remember cleaning the cargo bays and brig?"

"Oh yeah. Wait, no I gave them to the pip squeaks."

"Well, they gave them back."

"Then make them pick them up."

"You going to go wake Soundwave up?"

"Would if I thought I could walk or 'port that far. Can't though."

A cycling of air through vents, "No doubt you would. Stay here; I'll go find the crates."

"Slag it all TC, they ain't goin' anywhere, we'll do it tomorrow."

Thundercracker looked around the ball strewn hall, his sense of responsibility and wariness of upsetting Megatron, _or any other command officer for that matter_ at odds with his need and desire to collapse in recharge. The party that had produced his current state had been a rare yet good thing. Megatron had finally decided that his penchant for attacking at dawn was just not producing results, so had, in a '_brilliant'_ move, decided to attack the chosen power plant at dusk. And _wonder of wonders_, everyone who might oppose them was caught off guard. Autojerks as well as humans. By the time any Autobots had arrived, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, the Coneheads and Vortex were already long departed with their energon cargo, the remaining Combaticons flying escort. Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp were just leaving with their own loads, Megatron, Soundwave and the Constructions flying blocker escort, right behind them. The whole raid had gone off without a hitch, and another wonder of wonders, Megatron had retreated without firing a shot or an insult. The whole raid had brought in many times their normal haul. And Megatron recognizing the need for a further morale booster had ordered the Constructions to convert some of the stuff to high grade, using their own special process. Then, the officers had departed leaving the troops to their own devices. The result being that even Thundercracker was cratered.

Now his CPU was tossing responsibility to the wind. _'Slag it all to the pit and back'_, the recharge berth sounded better anyway. They'd likely just go into recharge if they tried to clean these up tonight anyway. Groaning, he kicked balls out of the way of the door and dragged Skywarp into their quarters where more balls were shoved off berths and the two slipped into recharge.

--

Thundercracker onlined to a loud crash, followed by Skywarp's cursing. This in no way helped the pounding tingling hangover racing through his circuits. A groan as he sat up and looked around. There were brightly colored miniscule rubber balls all over the place, on every horizontal surface. That brought back the memory of coming back to quarters last night. Another groan as Thundercracker's optics finally came to rest on Skywarp where he sat on the floor amongst even more balls.

"What happened?"

"What? Oh I have a brilliant idea for all these balls TC. And I just sorta forgot that they were scattered all over the place in my excitement to get up" was the overly cheerful answer.

Skywarp's announcement of 'a brilliant idea' didn't really come as a surprise to Thundercracker. He hazily remembered he had been expecting it since opening the door last night and seeing the bouncing balls flood out, but it still provoked a wince from the blue seeker. A statement like that from Skywarp was usually followed by time in the Nemesis' brig - the better to aggravate the seekers natural tendency towards claustrophobia - or a multitude of extended patrols meant to constantly take them to the brink of stasis. After all, locked up and stressed or too tired to function, left no time for causing trouble.

Remembering that he had spent an awful lot of time on punishment detail over the past few months courtesy of Skywarp and knowing full well he was going to regret it, Thundercracker still asked the required question "What kind of brilliant idea?" Then listened to Skywarp as he explained his choice of target – Scrapper's office – and why – because they certainly did not have enough balls to fill up the entire repair bay and Hook was the only other Constructicon with an office. And no matter what Thundercracker thought, even he wasn't crazy enough to mess with Hook's office. But most importantly, it was in Skywarp's strange twisted opinion, the Constructions were getting to full of themselves recently and needed to be reminded they were just like everyone else at base.

There was only one way to respond to that answer really. Hang over shoved aside; Thundercracker exploded in shock, launching into a loud tirade, "You're crazy, you know that? A fragging glitch! You are so on your own with this one. What in the pit slag are you thinking going after a Constructicon? And Scrapper? I mean I know he's the most sociable of the six after Scavenger. But you can't really call any of them pit slagging sociable! Oh by Primus, Scrapper's office, deep in the heart of the repair bay. Total Constructicon Territory! What the frag are you thinking? No by the pit, your obviously not. I guess I should be pit slagging grateful you chose one of the two semi sociable ones, but even at that, I reiterate, he isn't that fragging friendly. You might as well set your sights on Devastator for all the slagging good choosing Scrapper is going to do when it comes to the fragging payback. I mean we do rely on these fraggers to repair us. Oh Primus Warp, this is your project, not mine. I want no slagging part of it!"

Skywarp, his optics bright with amusement, stared at Thundercracker. "Wow TC, I can't remember the last time I heard you go off like that. And the language! Wow."

"Didn't even make a dent did I?" Thundercracker replied dryly.

"Umm, nope!


	8. The Prank Gets In The Way & Saves The Da

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 8  
**Rating:** PG  
**Characters/Pairings:** Mirage, Constructicons, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Jazz and Prowl  
**Universe:** G1

**Warnings:** None  
**Disclaimer:** _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

**Summary:** The prank gets in the way and saves the day

* * *

The tiny brightly colored rubber balls just kept pouring out of the room and flooding their bouncing and rolling way out into the Nemesis' repair bay. Mirage stared in shock for more seconds than were safe, in an attempt to fully comprehend what he was seeing and failing. It had been several trips since he had last visited Scrapper's office as his chosen location for information gathering and he'd had high hopes for his visit this night. The routine OP, _well as routine as infiltrating the Nemesis ever was, _had gone as smooth as usual, right up to this point.

Apparently choosing the Constructicon Leaders office and, more importantly, opening the door had been a mistake, and as Mirage knew, mistakes got spy's killed. Mirage heard an alarm sound, probably from the balls hitting that pressure sensor he had avoided a few steps earlier. With the clear knowledge that this OP had gone bad, Mirage tossed off the emergency code over his tactical line to Bumblebee where the minibot was waiting just outside the airlock with the skimmers. At the same time, the alarm continued to sound and Mirage could hear loud steps racing his way from further down, from the private quarters of the repair bay. Mirage reached down, scooped up a handful of the tiny balls, subspaced them, and headed for the bay doors. _If he got out of this, he wasn't sure anyone would believe the story_.

All six Constructicons poured into the repair bay proper with guns drawn. As they hit the first section of rubber ball strewn floor Mixmaster and Bonecrusher went slipping, sliding and cussing down and across the bay where they eventually crashed into a couple of berths. Scavenger, to close on their heels joined them, belly flopping onto his front side and spinning sideways like a Frisbee.

None of this would have been a problem for Mirage, except that as Scavenger spun around his shovel flopped out and connected with Mirage knocking him hard into the last repair berth that was between him and his escape. The strength of the unexpected hit and himself crashing to the ground in another scattering of the balls caused Mirage's cloak to cancel out. And he found himself staring across the bay at the three remaining Constructicons. Time seemed to slow as three sets of surprised optics stared at a fourth set of surprised optics for a long six seconds, then the moment was over and Mirage was scrambling, slipping and ducking under the berth, scattering balls in his wake as he tried to get back to his feet, all while trying to dodge blaster fire.

As he fled out the doors, two shots connected with his armor and he staggered with a wince. The armor held though, doing its job and better yet, he'd managed to write a program on the fly to get his cloak back up and running. Once again cloaked, Mirage bolted past confused Decepticons responding to the alarm and was cycled out the air lock in less than four minutes, pushing his skimmer to the maximum behind Bumblebee as the two raced for the rendezvous point where Broadside and Seaspray floated a good several miles off.

-+-+-+-

The six Constructicons along with Skywarp and Thundercracker continued to stand at attention as Megatron exited the Repair bay, kicking at the scattered balls as he went. As the doors shut behind their leader, the eight mechs sagged in relief.

"Well that went better than expected. We only have one fusion canon blast to deal with, in addition to the blasts from our lousy shooting, and luckily, it's in a wall also." Scrapper turned, looking around at the scattered balls, crushed and blasted berths and blaster scored walls. _What a mess._ Megatron's anger at the infiltration in general and specifically the failure of his warriors to catch the infiltrator had been eased –somewhat- by the fact that the spy had failed to get any information due to the seekers prank. _Yes, they had gotten off very easy indeed, verbal intimidation, fusion canon in the face and one fusion cannon blast that thankfully had not been in any of his teams' chassis. The Autobots had gotten too close to getting the current in progress plans not to mention the direct access to Nemesis' mainframe that his office offered._ Scrapper's gaze focused on the two seekers who had been edging their way towards the exit. "And just where do you think you two are going?"

"Who, us? Um, well, we um, yes oh yes, we have a patrol right now. Actually was supposed to um start ah, 16 minutes ago. Yes and, we don't want to be any later meeting up with Soundwave for call signs." Then in a flash of purple Skywarp was gone, a pop sounding as air raced in to fill the space the black seeker had occupied a moment before.

_Gee thanks Warp, _Thundercracker miserably thought as he was left facing the Constructicons.

Scrapper moved a few steps towards Thundercracker, close enough to be in personal space and convince Thundercracker that making a break for the door was a bad idea. Thundercracker dared do nothing about it. "You. Stay put. We need to have a talk." Then Scrapper turned towards his team. "You heard Megatron, he wants these things melted down, Mixmaster, transform, the rest of you start scooping."

Scrapper's voice when he turned back to address Thundercracker was calm and measured, with a cold undercurrent noticeable. "Thundercracker, I'm only going to tell you this once, and you may pass on however much, or little of it, as you wish to your glitch ridden counterpart. I'm giving you a free pass today on this stunt of yours. Most importantly because, as amazing and disgusting as I find it, this mess did save me and my team from our Leaders wrath. It also prevented all of our work of the past three weeks from being a total waste since the Autobots failed to gain access to the office. And we also found out how the Autobot got aboard. Just like Megatron, I have no doubt about this not being their spy's first visit here, but hopefully it will be his last. And just like Megatron, I marvel that we have this prank to thank for saving the day. However, our…benevolence and gratitude only go so far, so get out, and do not set foot in here for any reason, unless you are carried here in pieces."

Optics wide in shock and surprise plus the usual hefty dose of fear that was natural when dealing with the Constructicons, Thundercracker fled.

-+-+-+-

"And that's what happened." Mirage said as he finished his report to Jazz and Prowl.

"Alright, your dismissed Mirage. Head on over to the med bay, Ratchet should be waiting to clear you. And make sure you and Bumblebee get a written report to Prowl by the end of the day."

As Mirage nodded and left, Jazz sighed with the cycling of air through his vents. He stared at the small handful of miniscule, yet colorful, rubber balls currently sitting on Prowls desk. "Well, it's going to take a lot of work to regain access to the Nemesis. The Cons are sure to fix the glitch in that airlock we've been using."

Prowl leaned back in his chair watching his mate where Jazz currently reclined against the wall. "Well, what's done is done. We will manage and survive. We always have. Be glad they both got out unharmed for the most part."

Jazz stared back at Prowl. "You're taking this whole thing a lot better than I would have thought. This is a pretty big blow to our gaining access to information that your tactical planning group uses in developing plans against the Cons plans." Jazz paused to read Prowl, then added in a sly teasing tone, "especially seeing as how it was you who suggested these things be sent to the Cons."

"First, I'll remind you, it was _you_ who encouraged me in that decision. And second, why should I be upset when, after all these vorns with you, my point has finally been so nicely proven?"

"Huh? What point is that?"

Leaning forward, Prowl scooped up some of the balls, and with a rare smile, offered them to Jazz who held out his hands. "Rules Jazz."

"Huh?

"See what happens when you don't follow the rules? Now the Decepticons are using our own miscreant's pranks against us."


	9. Epilogue

**Title:** Bouncing Balls 9  
**Rating:** G  
**Characters/Pairings:** Swindle and the original Decepticon culprit  
**Warnings:** None  
**Universe:** G1  
**Disclaimer:** _I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak, No infringement intended._

**Summary:** Epilogue

For Andi, who wanted to know which Decepticon bought the balls from Swindle. Seeing as how I sorta had it in my head all along, I threw this together for you. Hope this works. He proved difficult to write because he covered his tracks so well and was not about to confess. Did you see him as the one?

* * *

**Epilogue**

Swindle sat back in his chair, his feet propped up on the corner of the desk. He gazed thoughtfully at the silver disc his business partner had just given him. He hadn't been surprised to get the message from Sideswipe and Smokescreen that they wanted to meet. After all, he usually met with each of his Autobot contacts, albeit separately, a couple times a year. He'd known both since before the war. Sideswipe was one of a few Autobots he had done legitimate business with, while he and Smokescreen had done _not so_ legitimate business. War or not, opposite factions or not, you don't just cut ties with reliable business contacts. What had been a surprise was that upon his showing up, they wanted to sell, not buy. And even more unusual was what they wanted to sell. He'd made them work pretty hard trying to convince him just why he should buy the things. Eventually, he had 'reluctantly' agreed to a deal.

Yes, his processor had seen the possibilities amongst the Decepticons prank crowd after Smokescreen and Sideswipe had first called the things prank equipment. He had narrowed his choices down quickly, but as he had been calculating between Frenzy and Skywarp as to which would offer the best profit, he'd realized a third possibility. Not as profitable in the monetary sense, this one could prove profitable in other ways. The Con in question needed to be approached cautiously, but, he had been inconvenienced enough by the prank crowd that he might just prove receptive.

Swindle looked over at his business partner who was currently jacked into the computer display. "So did this all work out for you?"

--BETTER THAN I HOPED, SINCE COMING OFF PUNISHMENT DETAIL, SOUNDWAVE HAS KEPT THEM TO BUSY TO GET INTO TROUBLE-- was the response that appeared on the screen.

"Hmm, yes I suppose, but I don't think this is going to curb their behavior."

--IT WON'T, BUT SEEING THEM CLEANING THE BAYS AND BRIG AGAIN WAS... SATISFACTORY--

"Especially since it wasn't their fault?"

--IT IS ALWAYS THEIR FAULT... THEY JUST WEREN'T… THE INSTIGATORS THIS TIME--

"And no one suspects it wasn't them."

It had not been a question, merely a statement of fact. But Ravage answered anyway. –I AM A SABOTUER, I DON'T LEAVE TRACKS, AND YOU'RE TO SLIPPERY TO GET CAUGHT--

Left unsaid was Ravage's admission that it had been a good alliance, something he would never admit to anyone, and he was actually impressed that Swindle had dared approach him about it. He'd hesitated initially, and had been ready to pound Swindle, then his stealthy CPU had kicked in. Watching some of the Nemesis' pranksters, especially his brothers, get blamed and blaming each other had indeed been quite satisfactory. It had worked better than any plan could have, because he'd had no controll over what any of the pranksters would do with the balls after he and Swindle had initially dumped them in Starscream's quarters. Knowing the Air Commander would blame Skywarp and make his trinemates clean the balls up had been the only real sure thing. Skywarp had reacted as anticipated though, going after the twin cassettes. Who in turn had gone after the Seeker. In the end, the only disappointment had been Scrapper's 'free pass' to the Seekers. _Oh well._

Swindle held no illusions that the partnership with Ravage was anything other than temporary. As with any business contract, it was good only within the terms of the deal and only as long as the prank lasted. Having been hit by the pranksters himself in the past, the risk of approaching Ravage had panned out. He agreed fully with Ravage, this whole bouncing ball affair had been satisfactory. Swindle turned his attention back to the disc in his hand. "So you think the Autobots would want a copy of the highlight reel?"

* * *

A/N - Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and followed along on this pranks adventure. I find it amazing how this short little drabble one-shot grew to be nine 'stories' long. I hope you enjoyed this light hearted look at some of our favorite robots. I know several of you wanted more, but I'm not nearly as creative as the Autobot and Decepticon pranksters are. ;D


End file.
